Photo by Marisa Padilla
The clothes you put on in the morning are not the markers of your character. They are pieces of cloth sewed together with thread. They say, “Hey, I want to be a citizen of society today.” What it doesn’t say is anything about your sexuality, your morals or who you are as a person.
When I get dressed in the morning I put on what is going to make me feel most confident. Some days I want to adorn myself with diamonds and sweatpants; other days I just want to slip into a little black dress. What’s beautiful is that my wardrobe changes daily.
If a person’s wardrobe is the deciding factor as to whether or not you treat him or her with respect, then please re-evaluate your life. Think critically about why it’s so important that my individual fashion sense appeases or offends you. Then come back and tell me one good reason. Give examples and show your work — due on my desk Monday morning.
A little black dress does not have the power to take away your self-worth. Nor does it give someone else the power to tell you that it does. Is a girl who wears Daisy Dukes a slut? Maybe. How about the girl who dresses in a muumuu? Maybe. Does it matter? Is it any of your business? Let me answer that last question: Nope.
Now that isn’t going to stop people from trying to make it their business, saying things like, “Others are going to judge you based on how you look! Don’t you want to make the right impression?”
So what if someone thinks my top is too low-cut? I wore it for one reason and one reason only: I like it. If they think even for a second I picked it out to impress them, they’ve got a big storm coming. Besides, maybe I want my plunging neckline and tight leather skirt to indicate that I am a powerful ninja woman who could take over the world with the flutter of an eyelash.
Trust me, I know just as well as anybody that what you wear can say a lot of things. Sweatpants can say, “Hey, I felt like being comfortable today,” and wearing a pink shirt probably means, “Hey, I like this pink shirt.”
There will always be people who say, “I don’t approve of the way you dress.”
And to that I say thank you very much, please excuse me while I throw your opinion onto the pile with my old Myspace profile and all the other things I don’t care about.
You don’t like the dress I wore last night? Don’t enjoy my short-shorts? Good news: You don’t have to wear them.
Your personal style is … wait for it … PERSONAL. Cue the fireworks and marching band.
Girls dressed in conservative clothing — way to go! You look amazing. Girls dressed in booty shorts and crop tops — way to go! You look amazing.
Making assumptions about other people based on their clothing is unacceptable. Sure, modest can be hottest. Scantily clad can be rad. What is not hot or rad is judging a person based on their clothing choices.
Ultimately, the only person whose opinion matters is your own. Nothing in this world is more powerful than a woman who knows who she is on her own terms, and once she figures it out, she can conquer the world — in a pantsuit or a bikini.
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Follow Amber Scholl on Twitter: @AmberScholl
